The invention relates to a toy illuminated with a light to create unique visual illusions.
Toys displaying visual effects, such as movement and light, are popular with children of all ages. Children enjoy playing with toys displaying visual effects, and adults delight in the enjoyment of children at play with such toys. Moreover, adults themselves can enjoy playing with amusing and entertaining toys displaying movement and light.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are light devices that have a longer user-life compared to filament light bulbs. LEDs also use less electrical energy, are usually smaller, and can flash more rapidly than filament light bulbs. LEDs can also exhibit various visual and optical effects involving different colors, blinking rates, and flashing patterns.
One aspect of human visual perception that has given rise to a number of optical effects devices is the phenomenon of visual memory. It has been known for several centuries that human vision displays a persistence phenomenon. This persistence phenomenon is based on the fact that humans retain visual images for a brief period after reception of the image.
This persistence phenomenon allows humans to ignore the hundreds of times per day their eyelids blink. Further, the persistence phenomenon eliminates the detection of the on-off electric light cycling, or flashing at rates of 60 Hz (e.g. cycles per second) or faster. Perhaps the most widely recognized and obvious example of the visual persistence phenomenon is motion pictures (movies), where still pictures flash upon a screen at a rate of 60 images per second. Because of the display rate, the visual persistence phenomenon allows such images to be perceived by humans as a seamless blend of continuous motion. Another example of the persistence phenomenon is human perception of a rapidly spinning wheel, which can appear to slow down, stop spinning, and even reverse direction at various rotation speeds. The visual refreshment rate is variable, but, in general, humans begin to perceive flickering images at about 24 Hz (e.g. 24 images per second).
A strobe light can also create a xe2x80x9cstop motionxe2x80x9d visual effect as it flashes bright light on visual scenes in rapid succession. Harold Edgerton, a scientist and photographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, perfected a technique in 1931 for high-speed and stop-motion photography using strobe lighting. Photographs using this technique show such scenes as a bullet piercing an apple or a light bulb shattering. Strobe lighting is currently used at various entertainment events.
Well known children""s toys include the use of animated cartoon characters and toy figures. Animated dolls and toy figures are almost universally found in a child""s toy collection. Dolls and toy figures of all sizes displaying life-like movement have fascinated children for decades and remain very popular with children in a wide age range.
Various mechanisms have been used to impart movement to toy figures. These mechanisms range from purely manual mechanisms, such as strings on puppets, to purely mechanical, such as a wind-up spring mechanism. Attempts to use very complicated electro-mechanical designs in children""s toys, including computer control technology, have been met with very limited success.
Imparting life-like movement in small toy figures has also proven to be very difficult, if not impossible. The smaller the figure, the more difficult it is to construct with an internal mechanism to impart movement. Moreover, a smaller figure dictates a smaller, and consequently more delicate, internal mechanism with a correspondingly higher breakage rate. Further, the constraints on movement schemes has limited the ability of toys to emulate life-like motion. There remains a need for new innovations and techniques to impart realistic movement in small toy figures. Moreover, there is also a present need to impart variable motion of a figure in a toy device.
The invention takes advantage of human persistence phenomenon to create a toy figure displaying realistic, life-like, and variable movements. The toy has a shaft or handle with at least one semi-flexible figure affixed to the top of the handle and a globe covering and surrounding the area where the figure affixes to the handle. An electric motor within the handle vibrates the affixed figure, and a light emitting diode (LED) strobe generator illuminates the toy figure at a specified flashing frequency.
The handle features a control for adjusting the LED strobe frequency, as well as an on-off switch for the electric motor and LED strobe light. Alternative embodiments allow the user to also control the rate and direction of the figure""s movement, the intensity of the LED, a selection of LED combinations or color of LEDs, and a selection of different toy figures for movement in the toy device.
During operation, the electric motor causes the affixed figure on the handle to vibrate rapidly and become visually indistinct. The appendages on the figure in the toy device, as well the figure itself, vibrate and gyrate at a very high frequency. The LED illuminates the vibrating figure with an LED generated light source, and by adjusting the frequency of the LED strobe flashing, the strobe frequency and vibration frequency can be synchronized to induce a stop-motion or slow-motion visual effect. When in proper synchronization, the vibrating figure can be adjusted to vary the visual impression including an appearance of dancing or movement in a life-like manner.